FORMER CRH chief executive Liam O’Mahony plans to step down from the building-material group’s board at the end of the year.

Mr O’Mahony retired as group chief executive at the end of 2008, when he was succeeded by incumbent Myles Lee.

He became a non-executive director of the company at the beginning of 2009.

The group announced yesterday Mr O’Mahony would retire from the board on December 31st of this year.

He joined CRH in 1971, working initially in the Irish business and in the Middle East and Africa.

He moved to the US as CRH began to acquire businesses there in the mid-1980s, rising to become chief operating officer of its North American business.

In 1991 he became managing director of its Republic of Ireland and UK group of companies.

Mr O’Mahony joined the CRH board in 1992, and was appointed chief executive of Oldcastle, the holding company for the group’s North American operations, in November 1994. He became group chief executive in 2008.

He is chairman of Smurfit Kappa Group plc and IDA Ireland, and a director of engineering and architecture business Project Management Ltd.

Mr O’Mahony, who is from Co Tipperary, graduated with a degree in engineering from University College Cork before going on to complete an MBA.

He subsequently studied law at Trinity College Dublin, and Kings Inns. He attended De La Salle College in Waterford.